in antiquity, a ceremony by which the ancient Romans complimented their emperors and great men, after their death, with a place among the gods. It is described as follows. After the body of the deceased had been burnt with the usual solemnities, an image of wax, exactly resembling him, was placed on an ivory couch, where it lay for seven days, attended by the senate and ladies of the highest quality in mourning; and then the young senators and knights bore the bed of state through the via sacra to the old forum, and from thence to the campus martius, where it was deposited upon an edifice built in form of a pyramid. The bed being thus placed amidst a quantity of spices and other combustibles, and the knights having made a solemn procession round the pile, the new emperor, with a torch in his hand, set fire to it, whilst an eagle, let fly from the top of the building, and mounting into the air with a firebrand, was supposed to convey the soul of the deceased to heaven; and thenceforward he was ranked among the gods.